Hammer.



PATENTED DEG. 1, 1903.

L. S. STARRETT.

HAMMER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 4. 1903.

NO MODEL.

/ ENTUR I I, g v q V the nail in position for driving.

UNITED STATES Patented December 1, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

LAROY S. STARRETT, OF ATHOL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO L. S. STARRETT 00., OF ATHOL, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

HAMMER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 745,973, dated December 1, 1903.

Application filed February 4, 1903. Serial No. 141.831. (N0 model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it knownthat I, LAROY S. STARRETT, of Athol, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hammers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention consists of a hammer having the usual claws and nail-driving face and characterized by a nail-receiving groove and recess in its peripheral wall, a slotted projection overhanging such groove and recess, and

a spring-finger secured in and projecting from said slot to hold the nail temporarily to the hammer-head while the preliminary driving blow is struck. The spring is removably connected to the hammer-head and is protected from injury by the walls of the narrow slot formed centrally in the .solid metal of the overhanging projection or preliminary nail-driving face. The tip of the spring projects suificiently to hold the nail by its head and to recede into the slot when the blow is struck which begins the driving of the nail. Thus with my improvement a person can with one hand drive nails in places impossible to reach under the old plan of holding the nail in position by one hand while driving it with the other.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal central section through the head of my hammer, dotted lines showing the changed position of the spring and nail-head when the first blow is struck. Fig. Zis a top plan of the hammer, both figures showing in full lines Fig. 3 is an end view looking at the driving-face of the hammer.

The hammer-head has the usual drivingface 3 and a preliminary driving-face 4., formed on a rigid ledge or projection 5, which overhangs the head of the nail 6. A longitudinal guide-groove 7 is formed in the peripheral wall of the head to receive the nail-body, and a transverse or enlarged recess 8 at the end of said groove receives the nail-head edgewise just below the projection 5. Said projection has a slot 9to receive a wire spring 10, the projecting tip of which bears on the outer edge of the nail-head and serves to hold the nail-body in the groove 7. The spring is shown nearly straight and removably secured by a screw 11, but it may be coiled like a watch-spring between the walls of the slot 9 and held at its inner end by a screw transversely arranged. The screw-fastening per= mits substitution of a new spring when required.

. The slot 9 may be best formed as a saw-cut made centrally in the projection 5 just wide enough to allow movement of the free portion of the spring 10. The slotted projection 5 and the nail-holding devices may, if preferred, be formed on and applied to the under peripheral wall of the hammer-head instead of the upper or outer wall, as shown.

The operation will be readily understood. The nail-body is placed laterally in the groove 7, the operator giving a slight upward pressure of the nail-head against the projecting tip of the spring 10 as the edge of the nailhead enters the recess 8. The spring yields to this pressure and at once engages the nailhead with the lower wall of the recess, and its downward and inward pressure on the outer edge of the nail-head keeps the nailbody in the groove 7, so that the nail moves with the hammer when the first blow is struck. \Vhen the nail-point strikes the wood into which it is to be driven, the spring recedes and the preliminary driving-face of the projection 5 drives the nail partly in.

By my improvement nails of any size long enough to reach from the preliminary driving-face 4 to and well beyond the face 3 are firmly held by the spring, which extends from the projection 5 and presses the nail toward the axis of the hammer-head and into its longitudinal groove, yet releasing the nail with a bound and without an effort the instant the starting blow is struck. The nail is then driven by the usual face 3 without having to reverse the tool.

I claim as my invention- 1. The improved hammer-head described, having the usual terminal driving-face and nail-drawing claws at its opposite ends, and formed peripherally with a longitudinal groove to receive and guide the nail-body and a recess to receive the head, and with arigid projection above said groove having a predriving-face, such boss being slotted in the plane of the hammer-head axis and provided with a slender spring, the free end of which :5

projects from said slot and bears terminally on the nail-head but recedes into such slot when the starting blow is struck.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

LAROY S. STARRETT.

- WVitnesses:

FRANK E. WING,

WILLARD G. NIMs. 

